The Regressed Chaebol Grandson Finds It Hard to Forgive - Chapter 15

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 15. Do You Know Who I Am? (1)

“It’s class time. Why do I need to leave?”
“What, why??”

Park Dong-geun, a physical education teacher and second-year grade supervisor responsible for discipline.
He was momentarily dumbfounded by Ha Tae-woong’s response.

Just before coming here, he’d been called to the Principal’s Office and thoroughly chewed out.

There’d been rumors that morning of a violent incident in one of the classrooms.

Then another incident erupted in the cafeteria during lunch.

A female student had been beaten by two male students.
On top of that, they’d dumped food scraps on her.

The perpetrators were none other than Special Admission Students!
An unprecedented outrage had occurred.

Had it happened among ordinary students, proper procedures would have been necessary.
But Special Admission Students were exempt from such procedures.

He’d heard the full account of the incident in the Principal’s Office.

Beyond being frustrated, it was utterly intolerable.
After receiving orders to summon Ha Tae-woong, he’d rushed straight up.

“Sir, you’re currently violating my right to education.”
“Your—your right to education??”

Park Dong-geun’s jaw dropped as his mind reeled.

Ha Tae-woong was a student he knew well.
He was exceptionally tall and striking in appearance.
But he was merely a Special Admission Student.

To the short, unremarkable Park Dong-geun, he was an eyesore.

When his mood soured, he’d often seize the chance to torment the boy during PE class.

He’d always left all the setup and cleanup of physical education equipment to Ha Tae-woong.
Yet he never awarded him extra credit for it.

He’d point out faults without reason, extinguishing any hope of bonus points.

No matter how clever, a poor student shows his status.
The boy would always droop, crestfallen, dropping his gaze.

But today, Ha Tae-woong’s demeanor was different.

Shoulders that should have been hunched were now straightened.
His neck was held rigid, and he met Park Dong-geun’s gaze with confident eyes.

“What right to education, you punk! Get out right now!”

Park Dong-geun wielded his usual authority to snarl.

Moreover, this came right after being reprimanded in the Principal’s Office for poor student management.

Unlike teachers from prestigious universities in the Seoul metropolitan area, Park Dong-geun had a degree from a provincial university in physical education.

That was his only real weakness—or so he believed.
Of course, that was purely his own thinking.

He’d joined Cheong-hwa High School as a teacher through the influence of a relative who was an executive at the Cheong-hwa Group.

From the start, he lacked the academic pedigree to deserve being a teacher at the prestigious Cheong-hwa High School.
Instead, as a PE teacher, parents had largely turned a blind eye.

Park Dong-geun’s flattery skill, in particular, was elevated to an art form.

He treated each Parents Association board member like a boss at work.

He took it upon himself to handle every minor and major impropriety within the school.

He conscientiously covered all the night duty shifts, always reading the room.

What Park Dong-geun valued most was his title: teacher at Cheong-hwa High School.
It was an honor enviable enough to make teachers at other schools jealous.

In Gangnam, the mere fact of being a Cheong-hwa High School teacher was a calling card.

How carefully he’d managed that calling card.
The card he’d polished so thoroughly over all these years had developed a crack.

Special Admission Students had dared to disrespect and provoke Park Dong-geun.
Violence against ordinary Cheong-hwa students was inexcusable.

Worse—it was the daughter of a parent who occasionally brought him gifts!

Word had it she’d soon become a Parents Association officer.

“Can you take responsibility for this?”
“Responsibility? Yes, I’ll take responsibility! Enough talk—get out now!”

At Park Dong-geun’s harsh tone, Ha Tae-woong rose from his seat.
Smartphone in hand, he moved toward the rear door of the classroom.

“Leave the phone!”
“I won’t.”
“You won’t?”
“I’m recording. I plan to submit it as evidence in a lawsuit.”
……Gulp.

In an instant, the classroom fell into a cold, heavy silence.
Park Dong-geun swallowed hard at the word “lawsuit.”

Looking at the current situation alone, it was indeed a case of a teacher violating a student’s right to education.
But.

A Special Admission Student filing a lawsuit!

Park Dong-geun shook his head frantically, eyes snapping wide.
He dismissed the idea, forgetting this wasn’t an ordinary high school.

Anyone could sue!
But every Special Admission Student had financial difficulties.
It was stipulated in the admission requirements themselves.

These families couldn’t dream of hiring a lawyer.

Thud-thud.

Ha Tae-woong’s stride was confident.

“Teacher Oh, I’m sorry. Continue the class.”

Watching Ha Tae-woong slip out the rear door, Park Dong-geun
quietly closed the classroom door and spoke.

“Yes……”

Oh Jeong-hye, the mathematics teacher and homeroom advisor, responded with her lip bitten.
Ha Tae-woong’s attendance and conduct were exemplary, Special Admission Student or not.

Unlike usual, she felt uneasy.

“Where is he going?”
“To the Principal’s Office!”

This situation was unprecedented.
The atmosphere suggested this would escalate.
The classroom mood was affected; class had to go on.

“That guy’s done for. He’s getting kicked out.”
“Wow…… he stayed defiant till the end.”
“Ha Tae-woong seemed weak today!”
“Everyone, quiet. Stop spreading unfounded rumors.”

Oh Jeong-hye silenced the students’ idle chatter.

Friday, May 6, 2022, afternoon class period.

Cheong-hwa High School was quietly being swept into a storm.

* * *

“You damn bastard. How dare you ignore a teacher’s words like that!”

A few steps behind, spewing curses at the back of my head—that pathetic back-of-a-teacher, Park.

No matter how much of a parachute appointee PE teacher he is, he has no refinement in his speech.

Park Dong-geun—a teacher lacking both skill and character.
Lucky enough to land a plum position with a Cheong-hwa High School teaching certificate.

Back in those days.

The man who’d deliberately find fault and torment me during PE class.

I’d handled all the setup and cleanup of communal PE equipment alone.

Even then, I knew it was unfair treatment, yet I endured it silently.
That was the only way to survive.

I’d simply prayed for graduation to come.
But not anymore. Not from today.

“I mentioned I’m recording.”

One advantage of Cheong-hwa is the freedom to carry a smartphone.

Of course, school rules strictly prohibit phone use during class.
And no students secretly use theirs.

“Recording? So what can a punk like you do with that?”
“You’ll see soon enough.”
“A Special Admission Student throwing his weight around!”
“Ha.”

There’s no rush.
I’d announced the recording, dismissed him lightly with a laugh.

“Did you just laugh at me?”
“There’s nothing to cry about, is there.”
“You bastard!!”

Whoosh.

A fist flew at the back of my head.

Wow. This guy really is going all out.

Hardly worthy of the title “teacher.”
The same violence I’d suffered before was repeating itself.

The body remembers Park’s brutality from back then.
My body dodged instinctively.

I’m a veteran who completed Special Forces Training.
Those weren’t idle hours I spent.

My mind reacts faster than my body, remembering the experience from those days.

Swift.

“What? You! Did you—dodge?”

Park Dong-geun threw a wild swing and panicked severely.

“I’m warning you. If you throw one more punch, I’ll counterattack in self-defense.”

A short, potbellied, balding middle-aged bachelor, poorly put together as he is.
Yet his eyes are remarkably high-handed.

The way he occasionally looks at female students during class is utterly sinister.

In a few years from this point, all his secrets will come out.
He’ll be forced to resign after being caught illegally recording female students.

Thud-thud.

Park, silenced by my warning, trailed behind as I headed for the Principal’s Office.

We soon arrived at the Principal’s Office entrance.
The seat of the school’s top position, which can only be obtained by selling one’s soul to Cheong-hwa High’s board of trustees.

Knock, knock.
Click.

I knocked twice and pushed the door open before a response could come.
I could roughly picture the situation.

Oh Gwang-jun, proud-spirited, hadn’t spoken yet.

Oh Seo-ra, who’d rushed out of the cafeteria in tears, was more likely the source.

I’d come to understand the world’s currents reasonably well.

Then, to the right, two middle-aged women sat side by side.

Of course—the Principal needn’t remember the face of a Special Admission Student.

“Ha Tae-woong?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What! You’re Ha Tae-woong?”

It was strange how extravagant accessories only made a person look cheaper.

“Who am I?”
“……”
“You rotten punk! How dare you lay a hand on my daughter’s face!”

The next moment.

I took the blow knowingly.

such miserable situations again.

To do that, I needed clear justification.

Instead, I endured it for the price that would come back to them.

What was unavoidable was how obviously cheap she looked.

Just like rumors suggested—a Gangnam building owner’s newly rich wife.

And offered my right cheek.

“I’m sorry. Ms. Administrator. I got carried away. Coming from a poor background with no upbringing…… I thought a stern lesson would help…… heh-heh-heh.”

As if that were never the case, Oh Seo-ra’s Mother regained her composure and returned to her seat with affected grace.

Before these people, I wasn’t even a student.

Not a single one of them stood up for me.

He openly avoided my gaze.

Kim Chang-yong, a man in his mid-forties with thinning hair.

Students call him the Tin Can Robot—the Chinese Classics teacher.

His thick brows and strong, angular jaw trembled.

“Oh my! I’m sorry. Hearing that the boy hit Seo-ra’s face, I lost control and my hand just went up on its own. Heh-heh-heh.”

With a cunning smile, she called it a mistake.

Now I’m actually laughing.

“I heard directly from Seo-ra.”

“That is……”

Before the teacher, Oh Seo-ra’s Mother’s words trailed off as she seemed to back down slightly.

The school’s reputation as Korea’s top private institution was widely known, but its reality was a complete mess.

“Pfft-hahahahahahahahahaha!”

I didn’t hold back.

I laughed openly, thoroughly.

All eyes turned to me in bewilderment.

Smile.

And then.

“By the way…… do any of you here happen to know who I am?”
“……??”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————